My Stint with Baking

Ever since Covid, and the whole baking saga all over the internet, I have been itching to try my hands at them. I have always been a fan of any sort of pastries / baked goods and seeing all the baking videos and pictures of cakes and biscuits, and what not, had me drooling. So, when our good old microwave oven broke down, I convinced the husband man that to get a convection oven to satisfy my baking thirst. Poor fellow fell for my words and tada, a convection oven comes home. Well, this was in 2020. But the moment the oven came, my interest waned off and I kept procrastinating baking. Had tried a banana cake and some sweet-bread once, both of which turned out very okay-ish, causing my interest vanishing off into thin air - poof! I decided that baking wasn’t going to be my cup of tea and stopped dreaming about baking my own cake. 

Fast forward to 2025. As it always happens (is it only me?), I taste some biscuits baked my cousin, and suddenly all my interest (the one that I considered vanished but had apparently been only bottled up) is out all over again. I knew my brain was tricking me again and deliberately procrastinate this time as well. I get the recipe from my cousin, and read it a hundred times, watch another fifty videos in YouTube, think of all the various substitutes I can use instead of the actual ingredients mentioned in the recipe. I even end buying a couple of ingredients, but I’m still a bit skeptical about taking that plunge of actually doing the baking. 

After about a week of staring at the purchased ingredients I decide to do it over the last weekend. Why does baking need so much of crockeries and utensils? A whole set of measuring cups, spatulas, whiskers, sieve, bowls, rolling pins - man, how many stuff to wash. As soon as I started the task, my mind started calculating the amount of time it’d take to wash and clean the powdery mess I’d create all over the floor. But then, I had already started, so I decided to complete it in peace.

I begin by whisking the butter in a bowl. In another bowl (see, already 3 utensils), I sieve in some flour, milk powder, salt and baking soda. Then I combine the ingredients of both the bowl into one, and go for the star ingredient of the dish. Sugar. Now, this is where I was completely flabbergasted - for approximately, 2 cups of flour and butter, I use one full cup of sugar. I know, sweets/biscuits are supposed to have sugar, but seeing the size of my dough and the quantity of sugar I was going to add into it, caught me quite off guard. I go ahead, and mix it all together. Trying to follow the recipe instructions into the T, I gently keep kneading it, but the dough refused to fully bind. So, resorted to some jugaad by adding a few drops of milk to help with binding. I guess it worked, because the dough binded after that - I still wasn’t sure what this would mean / cause to the final product. And next, I commit the biggest mistake of tasting the dough. Oh god, it felt a little too salty and way too sugary. By this time, I had lost all my hopes on how the final product would turnout and started assessing the amount of money I’d wasted on this, and thought I should have left these to experts and simply enjoyed the biscuits straight out of the packets or from bakers. Attempting to make my own biscuit was going to be only a cost in my books, with nil return / revenue. 

With no hopes whatsoever, I pulled out the dough into small balls, and pressed them down into circular shapes. Because I had zero hopes, I didn’t even bother to shape them uniformly and ended up making them in various sizes and thicknesses. The first batch went into the oven. Slowly they started turning golden brown, and rising up. That felt really good to watch, but I was still worried about the taste. In about 10 minutes, I see the biscuits on the edge of the plate starting to burn and decided to take them off the oven. I take them out only to realise the ones in the middle haven’t completely cooked yet, while the edges of the ones in the end were starting to burn. I decided to put it back in for another 4 minutes. Once done, I took them out, and impatiently let them cool for a little while, and tasted one biscuit.

Well! Well! Well!! My efforts were not all in vain. Though the biscuits had a tinge of saltiness, the sugariness had settled well. The sugariness of the baked biscuit wasn’t as bad as the sugariness of the plain dough. But I still wasn’t convinced that people at home would eat them, and decided to take off a bunch to office to distribute and get it over with. It took me another 3 batches of baking to finish off the entire dough. I still didn’t have the patience to shape them out perfectly, so the biscuits ended up being in different sizes and thicknesses. I now had two small boxes full of my homemade biscuits, and went to bed wondering how to get them sold (a.k.a make people eat) 

The real shocker came only the next day when the boy and the husband man tasted them and told it was actually nice. Well, all that butter hadn’t given up on me and actually saved my biscuits making them melt in the mouth. The biscuits had a bite to it, but once bitten melted effortlessly - and before I knew it, one box had vanished off in a day. The aftertaste of the biscuit was its biggest highlight for me - the butteriness combined with a sweetness definitely left me weak and I ended up having a couple more than I should. They felt sinfully good. And thus, ended my baking saga.

Would I bake biscuits again? It depends on two main things. One, I need to find an alternative for sugar - the amount of sugar I put in that mixture got me super scared. Two, I need a foolproof plan to use minimal utensils or have a helping hand washing the utensils. 

That’s all for now, folks. Happy biscuiting! 

My home-made marvel, lol!

Meiazhagan

I am not someone who can write a book or movie reviews - but I want to write down a few things about this movie that I enjoyed.

The first scene and the song that followed it, had me in tears. The lyrics, the voice - everything about the song carried so much of emotion! The heaviness you feel when you are forced to give up something that has been your entire life - the song captured that emotion completely. Vijay Narain, the primary singer, had done a brilliant job. But as if, that wasn't enough, the finishing touch in Kamal Hassan's voice definitely left me in goosebumps. 

I so loved the scene that showed the hero looking at his erstwhile home, after almost 22 years - it really struck a chord with me, as it's one thing that I was able to relate to myself - a feeling that I have every time I go to Neyveli and catch a glimpse of D63.

Watching the movie felt like watching a part of our own life on screen, the scenarios and the emotions were so relatable. The way the characters were portrayed, and the story being weaved alongside it, ever so subtly, that you wouldn't even realise it, was really good. 

Ok, I think this is all I can manage, without giving away the entire storyline (guess I already gave way too much of it). But the main reason for me to write out this post was that first song - dropping a link to it here, for my very own use!

https://youtu.be/UkYbuiKEWak?featureh=shared

Kudremukh!

Western Ghats have always been my most favourite. I have only been to Kumara Parvatha and Kodachari until now, and both of them have been really beautiful and challenging. I certainly have a thing for lush greens - the kind that you see right during and immediately after monsoon. So, when the office colleagues decided to plan a trip, I jumped up with glee suggesting Kudremukh as the destination.

 I have been wanting to go to Kudremukh for a long time now, ever since I finished the other two K's, but the dream couldn't crystallise into a reality. I went all out and convinced everyone about how beautiful Kudremukh would be and how this was exactly the right time to visit that place, showing all the innumerable photos on the internet. But as with every other trip planning and every other office gumbal, we started off with about 10 people showing interest for the trip, but then when we did finalise the actual date, unfortunately most them backed out due to various reasons. Finally, it was just me and one junior fellow who were the last men standing - and we decided to go ahead and do the trek. One, because I was really desperate to go there, and two, I wasn't sure when I would be handed such a perfect opportunity again, I didn't want to miss this. 

We decided to do this trek with a group called "Native Trekking" - who had an itinerary for the whole weekend, covering one / two places enroute after the trek. They pretty much got you covered for everything, transport (from Bangalore), food, stay and the trek. 

The bus started off from Indra Nagar in Bangalore at about 8pm Friday night. I was to board at Yeswanthpur. As I waited for the bus, I was stumped to see so many people around waiting about for a similar bus, for their weekend getaway. How I wished my life is one such. I chance upon a conversation with a bloke thinking he'd be in the same bus as mine, only to find out that he was headed elsewhere. Nevertheless, had a nice chat about the various places you could trek to in the Western Ghats.

My bus arrives an hour later, and mostly full. The junior had boarded earlier and had warned me about this. So, we settle down for the last row seats. It took us nearly an hour to exit the Bangalore city, and the bus is stopped for a quick dinner, for those who wish to grab something. After this, we start again, and the trek organizers give us all a briefing of the itinerary and the plan for the next day. They try their best to get to engage the crowd by playing some music and inviting people to dance. A few do, but most of us are engrossed with our own little group and barely budge. It takes another hour or two for most of the folks to doze off. I manage to get about 3 hours of barely there sleep. 

We reach Mullodi at about 5:30AM. From there, we were escorted to our homestay, which was about 4-5kms from Mullodi, in a jeep. Everybody was excited to go on the open jeep, and hopped on very enthusiastically. But mind you, the excitement died down in flat 5 minutes. Gosh! So much of jostling, and we could literally feel our hands/ribs crushing against the railing. Possibly, one of the most adventurous jeep ride I have ever taken till date. We longingly stare at every homestay that we pass by anticipating that it'd be ours only to be driven past it as though it didn't exist. After an excruciatingly long ride, we finally reach Rajesh Homestay. Phew! Everyone is relieved we've reached in one piece, and quite a few are already rethinking their idea of this whole trek.

We are pointed to our stays - two separate houses - one for men, and another for women. Dumping our bags in the room, we quickly refresh and head out for breakfast. After downing a breakfast of Idli, Chutney-Sambhar with some sugar-overloaded tea, and a packed lunch dabba, we head to the start point - a.k.a the forest checkpost. They have a strict rule of no single-use plastics to the peak, and check your bags thoroughly to ensure the same, before letting you begin the trek. At the forest checkpost, they check your booking details, ID and give you a lanyard with an ID for entry, and assign a local guide for every 15 people or so. 

The instructions were simple - the entire trek distance is 9km one way, you start at 8:30 and get to climb up until 1pm, and where ever you are by 1pm, you start your descent right away - if you manage to reach the peak by then, well and good, if not, it's your loss folks - you better up your fitness game! This is to ensure that everyone is out of the trail before it gets dark. 

We begin the trek with slight incline, and keep moving up. There is so much greenery all around - lush greenery - exactly like the ones that I have written about in the first line - absolute gorgeous eye soothing greens. As we gain more elevation, and see the peaks and mountains that surround us, covered with cluster of clouds, I feel so much peace and happiness, that I can never explain through words. The greenery, the blue sky, the white clouds - a scene that shall forever be etched in my mind, and bring forth the same calmness and peace every time I think of them. 

I'm not sure how many hills we climb and descend, but the valley (?) where the base of each hill meets the next, is usually a dense patch of forest with very minimal sun. After almost an hour into the trek, we started craving for these forest patches as the sun was becoming a little too hot for our liking, and there was no breeze either. And oh, there were streams all through, and every time we crossed one, we made sure to quench our thirst or rather just splash some water on our face with the ice cold water that felt really good. 

We reached the Lone Tree, which had an amazing view and spent a few minutes there. And then we reached a spot, where the clouds just moved into us, enveloping us with misty drops. As we climbed ahead, some inclines were brutally steep and made me wonder how am I even going to make it down in this route. Rightly about 10 minutes before we reached the peak, it started raining, and for the first time since we started climbing, it felt cold. Thankfully, we had raincoats. Wear them and move on. 

And yayyy! We made it - we reached the peak at 12:15. The rain had temporarily stopped. Peak views and I, are never a thing, I believe - especially in treks. Every time I climb up a peak, the surroundings are always covered in clouds and I end up feeling like I'm floating on a cloud, instead of feeling like I'm atop a mountain. Kudremukh peak wasn't an exception either, as it was entirely surrounded by clouds. Definitely not disappointed, but slightly curious to know what lay beneath the clouds. We had our lunch on the peak, strolled around a bit, took a group picture with our entire gang as it started raining all over again.

Spot us!

At 1pm, as advised, we started our descent. I have always strongly believed that ascents take the most time, and descents are usually fast, and haven't been proven otherwise until now. But this trail was hellbent in defying my belief, and it did. The trail was already super steep making us think twice before we took the next step. Add to this, a steady stream of more-than-a-drizzle-but-not-heavy rain, resulting in slippery paths. It literally brought back the memories of my KP trek descent, where I lost count of the number of times I fell face first into the water flowing through the trails. Everyone had their fair share of trips/falls on the trail, and to my credit, I had 3 (junior would want to count it as 3.5, but I disagree. By the way, he had two - which he wouldn't accept either) - thankfully nothing major for anyone.

Three things that kept us moving without too much of a worry was - one, music - me and the juni apparently seem to enjoy similar genre of music, so we kept singing random songs and kept quizzing each other on do you remember this song, do you know that, have you heard this line, did you like that tune, that pretty much kept our minds in bay. Second, the random chats that we had with people who climbed / descended alongside us - we met a paediatrician who had recently taken a liking to trekking and came solo, a boy who interned in Bangalore who was here with his colleagues, a Madurai girl settled in Bangalore who was here on the trek with her friends, two Class XII kids and, last but not the least, a CA (of course, we had to meet one from our clan right - else the trip isn't considered complete) - each sharing tidbits about their life, their experiences and any random stuff. Third, the views - I guess I'll never get tired of describing the views that we had - telling the same thing in different words as I feel I'd never be able to do justice to that with whatever words I use - the simplest way would be to urge people to go visit the place to experience the beauty and the joy.

We reach the checkpost at 5pm and with that the trek ends. I feel both exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. Self pat on the back for making it to the peak, and finishing it on time before dusk. 

As we enter the homestay we are welcomed with pakodas and tea. We bathe, hog on the snacks, and then gobble up the home cooked dinner of rice, veggies, dal, egg, payasam and decided to call it a night. All the previous night's missed sleep, the exhaustion from the trek caught up with me super quick and I doze off as soon as my head hits the bed.

The next morning, I'm all rejuvenated from a good night's sleep and wake early and watch out the mountains surrounding our stay, as the sun rises. We pack our bags and take the rib-crushing jeep ride one more time and board our bus back to Bangalore. The route is scenic with a winding roads, and tall trees and soon changes to widespread farmlands with raincloud backdrop and cool breezes as we descend from the mountains and enter the flat terrains. 

We make a quick stop at Belur Chennakesava temple before heading straight to Bangalore. 

All in all, this whole trek was one absolute paisa vasool and was exactly like what I wanted it to be. So glad that I was able to make it. And this shall forever remain etched in my mind. Special thanks to junior for his company - without which it wouldn't have been as much fun as it was! 

Book fair Nostalgia

If there is one thing that all the kids in our town awaited with bated breath, it has to the Book Fair. It has about 60-80(?) book stalls of various publishing houses spread across a big ground, and then to finish your evening on a high, there was always joy rides that included giant wheel, tora tora, cup and saucers, dashing cars and once, a water slide and go karting, even! And not to forget the food counter serving Delhi Appalams, Gobi 65, Fried Idlis and what-not! The one thing I'm always guilty of skipping is the auditorium, which used to have speakers/authors from across the State, sharing their views on various topics. I think this again had a separate theme for each year and a sub-theme for each day. 

It happens every year around June-July, for a period of 10 days. Starts at about 4:30PM in the evening and ends at 9:30-10:00ish. Every year there used to be a theme for the entrance decor, which kept getting better year on year. They had a daily entry pass or a seasonal pass for the entire 10 days, both of which if I remember right, didn't exceed Rs.50. 

The only motto during the book fair days was to rush out of school by 4:00PM and finish off all the homework, and get to the book fair by 6:00PM. This was possibly around Class VI-Class X. There were separate visits with friends and family. With friends, it always used to be loitering around each shop trying to find a book that you like, and note down the shop name & the book name, go on all the rides, hog on a little of the food that was bought on shared money.  I wouldn't call myself a voracious reader - most of my books were Tenali Raman, Mullah, Akbar Birbal and the likes. The one other thing I was absolutely fascinated about were puzzle / activity books like word finders, 365 pages of activities, etc. The day I come with parents is always with the motto to empty their pockets - buy all the books shortlisted, eat so much that you wouldn't want to have dinner when you go home and go on all the joy rides, all over again. 

Something else that was very interesting to me in book fairs were bumping into your class/schoolmates (people that I haven't really talked with). It feels like you get a glimpse of another side of their life outside the school gates.

Thinking back, I'm honestly stumped at how NLC had managed to pull off a book fair year after year, because it is definitely no easy job. Bringing together so many people, publishing houses, scouting for speakers/authors, logistics, theme ideas - all of this required so much time, effort and money - but I'm ever thankful that they did it, because it was all absolutely worth it. Anyone who had lived in Neyveli, would definitely have fond memories of any time they spent there. It was as close to an annual oor-thiruvizha you'd have in any village - this was our oor-thiruvizha.

You may wonder why all this nostalgia all of a sudden. It's because of this one picture that a friend of mine shared. Apparently, there is a book fair this year at Neyveli, after a gap of 4-5 years. This picture triggered out a lot of old memories, stashed right at the back of my mind, which I felt were worth putting down here!

Happy 4 to us!

Dearest boy, 

Every year when I sit to write this post, I try re-reading the last one, and I'm so glad that I wrote it, because there are so many things that I seem to have forgotten now, and it really helps refreshing my memory (a kutti self-appreciation for myself for documenting these - these are my biggest treasures) 

The year began with our 9-day road trip to Goa in car. Yeah, we did it boy! That long road trip which V desperately wanted to do finally happened during the 2022 Christmas holidays and 2023 New Year. We took along my brother and another cousin of mine. It was an amazing trip - one which each one of us will cherish forever for various reasons. And you were rock solid throughout the trip - absolutely enjoying the drive, the beaches, bike rides, boating. I think your favourite part of the entire trip was the beach baths every evening in South Goa - where you'd sit in the shore digging the sand for shells, with the wave splashing against the lower half of your body. Every evening we'd spend an hour that way and go over for an early dinner. You mostly survived on French Fries, plain rice, some days chapathi / bread, and curd. Of course, Cornflakes and milk were your non-negotiables - we had taken along a supply of the cornflakes and thankfully, milk was available everywhere. One of the weirdest habits of yours is - you eat the cornflakes dry and then gulp down a glass of milk. You'd never approved of cornflakes being soaked in milk (until last week when you have started demanding the cornflakes to be doused with a generous portion of milk). 

We have been taking you to the Decathlon once in a while and let you ride around there in the cycles, and guess what, you self-upgraded from riding the scooters and balance bikes to riding a proper cycle with balance wheels. I was a bit surprised that you didn't think twice before taking that cycle and starting to ride it. Somehow you knew, you could ride it. V tried really hard to make you ride a cycle directly without balance wheels, but I guess that's hard, and we might have to go the usual way of riding with the balance wheels for a while before you make the switch to a proper cycle with just two wheels. 

You had your first official summer holidays for 2 months this year, and we were so lost on what to do to keep you engaged and stay away from the screen as much as possible. We couldn't plan out a proper vacation this time, so we got you enrolled in a week-long summer camp. Though you were initially excited to go there - on the first day, the anxiety kicked in. After 2-3 days you were mostly fine. They kept sending us pictures of the kids at class and you were so excited to see them every day, which sort of stayed as motivation for you to keep going 

As the school re-opened again, we waited with bated breath to hear those golden words, a.k.a the letter telling us that you'd be staying in school till 2:30pm, i.e. full day (till then it was only 8-11am). As your teachers from the prior year had changed, it took even longer than we anticipated, and it was only after 3 months that you finally received the letter. Nevertheless, it was a big moment. You were as excited as us to take your lunch to school and settled into the full day school quite effortlessly. With regards to finishing off your lunch, I can only say, there are good days, and not-so-good days. Training myself to take it one day at a time.

This year has been the biggest burst in terms of the oral communication - language - English, to be precise. You generally enjoy talking, but until very recently, your talks were mostly in the native language, Tamil. And now, it's taken a full 180-degree shift to English. Not sure what brought about this sudden change - the school, or your friends, or the television - but simply put - you walk English, talk English, live English! Admire how you painstakingly try to communicate every single thing in English and pause to ask us how something needs to be communicated when you don't know to. 

Thatha and you are still an inseparable combo, spending a lot of time every evening in the terrace or the car parking chasing / shooting imaginary Spidermen and Spiderwomen. That brings me to your biggest craze of the year - SPIDERMAN! Ever since you learnt about this character, you've been going bonkers about it. Jumping around and landing with a palm on the floor, releasing webs into the space, and what not. Batman, Antman, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk are also in the league, but Spiderman is your most favouritest. Paati once got you a spiderman dress and you wore it every single day for one straight week and we'd to hide it away to make you stop wearing it all the time. You've started appreciating cartoons and know a handful of them now, ranging from Paw Patrol to PJ Masks to Minions and Peppa Pig. Muddy puddle jumps excite you, and whenever there's rain, there'd be a small puddle of water (on the cemented floor) in your school campus where you and your gang of friends would keep jumping around, only to get a little wet and go about having your clothes changed.

Music is still very much a part of your life, and you have your own playlist of devotional songs to make you sleep. The first ever cine song that you were trained to sing (purely by way of repetitive hearing) was the story stanza of Dada song. You absolutely enjoy watching as well as singing it. This year also saw the introduction of gaana songs, such as Salomiya, Kathadikudhu Kathadikudhu and new numbers such as Naa Ready and Hukum - where you don't hesitate to use your own words to align to the tune when the lyrics aren't understandable.

We went on our first long train journey to Pune and you thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a week-long vacation in Pune and Mumbai where your best times were had with Simba (the retriever), Double Decker bus rides, Zenith Waterfalls, Gateway of India boat ride, Pragathi Express Vistara Dome, Local Train journeys, Airport Lounge Food, and of course how can I forget - Alexa. The first time you saw it at Adi's home, you were shocked to see it respond to people's commands, and that became your very cue. You'd so cutely go to Alexa and say - Alexa, please play Kathadikudhu Kathadikudhu and Alexa would apologize for not having that song in its library and play another Deva song for you. 

And lastly, December began with the infamous Chennai Floods. With power, and network completely down, people didn't have a choice but to come out of their homes and talk with fellow beings. Thankfully the damage to our home was minimal, and we survived those 3 days without power with much less stress. And in those three days, you and all the other kids at the apartment definitely had one of your best times getting undivided attention from everyone. Thankfully things returned to normalcy within a week. However, your school was closed for almost 2 weeks, and it's only this week that you'd returned back to school. It's definitely evident that you enjoy your school and being with your friends, as you always come out of the class happily. Honestly, so glad about that.

Happy birthday, Boy! To more wonderful times, and joyful conversations!

Love,
Amma

7 Months!

Dearest Athiboy,

Before I begin writing each month's post, I make sure to read the previous month's post to remind myself of what all I have written. While doing so this time, I was kind of surprised at myself for having written so much. I don't seem to have too many things to write about this month, because life and the whole world as such is seems to be moving in a pace so slow that even the snail's walk seems faster. So here goes this month's updates -

Foot in mouth - Check! Yes, right after a couple of days since you turned 6 months, you managed to put your toes in the mouth. Reminded me of the good old Gokul Santol Talcum Powder logo. But the real joy lay in seeing you constantly trying it, and how your feet would just wriggle out of your hands most often as you tried to lift it up till your mouth.

I have finally figured out that you have started recognizing me as your mother (This word still makes tremble a little with excitement and anxiety). There have been days when you make a sudden cry while sleeping, and the moment I lift you and put you over my shoulders, you calm down in an instant. I simply can't put in words, the way I feel at that moment, purely priceless. I love the way you give your toothless grin when I come out after work to play with you. All these little happy moments make all the tough times worth it.

Evenings are for Terrace Walks, which you absolutely enjoy. The excitement on your face the moment we put you are made to wear a shirt is a sight to behold. You have a couple of "mottamadi buddies" already, a Thatha from the adjacent flat, the Moringa Tree, and the flat neighbors who come in for a walk in the terrace in the evenings. Spending anywhere between 30-45 minutes, you return back to take a power nap for 30-45 minutes as if you are tired after a whole day's work. 

Finally after 3 months, we are back to my parent's place for 15 days. And guess how you reacted! You see each person and started crying, and the moment I come near you, you start laughing. I wasn't sure if I had to be happy that you'd recognized me or sad that you weren't happy with so many people around. But slowly you started adopting and in the next 2 days, you got used to everyone around and have started playing with anybody who wants to play with you. Putting back on the floor / bed after playing with you is like diffusing a bomb, you either roll over happily or start crying a.k.a demanding you be lifted off the floor again, there is no in-between. Its surprising to know that you realize and understand the warmth of a human touch. Great job there, kid! 

You day naps are a shame to naps themselves, because they last not a minute more than half an hour. Sometimes, the time taken to make you sleep is more than the time you actually sleep. But I am not fully complaining because you sleep during the nights, so thank you! 

You have started sitting with some support, and hence, we have got you a feeding chair. Feeding you food in it is comparatively easier, because you can't really move around in it. Without that, it is a big task to make you sit in one position and feed, because you keep jumping to your feet and always want to keep standing. As for eating, you have started accepting other foods pretty graciously (I'm not sure if that's the right word). Right now, you eat koozh, idlis, mashed apples and bananas, a bit of rice with boiled potatoes, carrots etc. I believe you will grow to like and appreciate food, because you really enjoy eating. Also, nobody can eat their food when you're around without feeling a twinge of guilt, because you simply keep staring at their plate pleading with your eyes to give a portion of it to you.  

As such you are a happy kid, as long as you are not hungry or sleepy, and enjoy your time, rolling around, putting random things into your mouth or trying to lick the floor or having long last conversations with the digital clock.

You enjoy the car rides we take when we got to the hospital for your monthly check-up and I sincerely can't wait to take you out to the beaches and parks and to all your cousins' homes. 

Signing off with the lines of a song that resonates so much with me right now. Its from a tamil movie called Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal. A very rough translation of those lines are - At one instant, the mother wants her child to grow up and care for her, but the next second she wants the child to stay as a kid forever. I think this is more of a Mom's Syndrome, and every mother would go through this at some point in time. 

இந்த நிமிடம் நீயும் வளர்ந்து
என்னைத்தாங்க ஏங்கினேன்
அடுத்தக்கணமே குழந்தையாக
என்றும் இருக்க வேண்டினேன்

Love, 

Amma

D 63 Rajaji Road Block 25 Neyveli

I don't realize how fast time runs by until I see the date of the previous blog post in here. Its been 3 months since my last post, and so much has changed since then.

And the mother of all changes is my parents moving out of Neyveli. After a lot of deliberations and my father's untiring attempts at getting a transfer to Neyveli for my mother, which have only become futile, he finally gave in the letter for surrendering the house where he had spent the best part of his life for almost 25 years.

I never believed that changing houses would affect you mentally and emotionally until now. It is really difficult to accept the fact that I would no longer be running into Platform No. 1 in CMBT to board a rickety bus to rush home. I would forever miss breathing in the familiar cool air which would welcome me every time as the bust enters the town premises after the 5-hour long journey.

That house sure holds a million memories of all the years that were spent there. A few little things from my childhood times -

• We moved here when I was about 2-3 years old. I still remember how my grandfather and I would sit in the swing early in the mornings as my mother left for work. These were the days when I was normal and well behaved. On days when I woke up cranky, I wouldn't let my mother leave to work and would have to be literally dragged into the house by my aunt.
• During the rainy days, my grandpa and me would each sit on a chair and watch water flowing across the road, sipping our morning coffee and milk respectively. These are probably the only times I remember being close to my grandpa. As the years went by, age caught up with him and he was confined to his room for most part of the day, barring the morning newspaper and lunch time.
• Unlike the houses here in Chennai, where every house has a terrace, houses out in Neyveli did not have terrace. In fact, I never knew house would have terrace until I was in Class 5. All we had was a roof with Tar and Little gravels poured over. As the world moved from corporation tap waters to storing waters in tanks, we had a couple tanks installed at our home on these roofs. A ladder was laid from the ground to the roof to check on the water level in the tanks frequently. I fondly the summer holidays when me and my brother would climb on the roofs during the afternoons and pick the mangoes that fall off from the trees or simply just lie on the roof staring at the sky and the birds flying around. How I wish time had just stopped by then and there?!
• The house was always bustling with activity and there would be someone or the other visiting all the time. Panguni Uthiram is my all time favorite. It would literally be "house-full" during that festival as all the relatives would throng our house. 

The two best-est (if such a word exists) things about this house was -

1. The Thottam (Garden) - From tamarinds to coconuts to mangoes to Jackfruits to Musambis, the house had it all. Every summer, when anybody from Chennai came down to visit us, my father makes it a point to send along as many jackfruits as the vehicle could bear for all the numerous relatives in Chennai. 
2. The Oonjal (Swing) - Every single person who visited the house, would surely take a two minute time out to sit on this swing. It was pure bliss. Though I am not much of a swing person, I sure do enjoy spending sometime on it on a lazy weekend. 

This post can never do justice to all the memories that were created in that house, but it is just a small attempt to document a few things that will be forever be cherished.

Finally, a picture of the house! It used to be very shady, until a few years ago when we had cyclones destroy a lot trees in the whole town. From then on, the house kind of started looking a little barren.

And the Oonjal! This also had a asbestos roofing which again got damaged in the cyclone, nevertheless it was a pleasure swinging in it during the dusk.

Until next time,

G

Surprised ! Impressed !!

Three days of holidays and no plans to go anywhere - that was so unlike me. Well, the circumstances demanded I stay in town. Had to do some work but in the end, all I'm doing is stay at home the whole day. I could have probably sneaked a visit to the library or that bookstore which I wanted to visit for quite a while now, but the Sun and the summer heat wasn't really helping either. Home was my cozy abode, and I just didn't feel like budging.

The day began on a very lazy note. My dad was to coming down today, so I had to go pick up him from the bus stand when he reached. But when he called up, I woke up, saw my brother sleeping beside me, very smartly woke him up and made him do the driver's job (That's how lazy I was). Dad came, we talked for a while and off he went to my aunt's place with my brother on tow and I was on my own again. Started reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress, but 45 minutes into the book, I became restless. Not that the book wasn't interesting, I really needed to do something else. Switched over to watching some serials, but halfway through it started dozing off and eventually slept for another 2 hours (Mind you, I had a very nice sleep of 7 hrs the previous night). Woke up feeling hungry and had some food. 

Now, the time was around 2pm. Finally, I decide I gotta do something worthwhile and proceed on to clean my wardrobe. As I was finishing it, my brother comes over and we start watching some new Bollywood flick. It wasn't that great a movie and this time, halfway through it, my brother quits and asks me to drop him off at the bus stand as he had to get back to school. Thus, after almost an entire morning and afternoon inside the house, I take the first step out at around 5pm. I drop him and come back home only to continue off with the serials again, but the same feeling haunts.

To break free from it, I take a walk for around the area and end up seeing an amazing sunset. Well, I personally love watching sun rise and sun set, especially in the beaches. It gives me some sense of peace or happiness or whatever you can call that feeling to be.

Energetic but a little fatigued, I come home. The stomach rings its bell again. FOOD. And thus, my dear fellas, begins the best part of the day. I decide to put my culinary skills to test. As I was debating on what to try out, a friend of mine suggested Rotis. And I was all game for it. Point to be noted here, all I have ever done before with regards to Roti is put in on the pan :P Never before have I ever tried kneading the dough though I had this annoying habit of grabbing a ball of the dough while it was kneaded. So, I go ahead, mix all the ingredients, knead the dough, flatten the dough which usually should be circular. But my Rotis were anything but circular. They were triangular or square or some random polygon. I cook them over. And guess what, the Rotis actually turned out pretty well. Wonder whether it was my really amazing culinary skills or the fact that I was super hungry (I hope it is the former ;-)) that the Roti tasted soooooooo good. Must say, I was mighty surprised and impressed. 



And that's a piece of my Roti with carrot :D :D 

Mission accomplished. *Pats on the back*

Cheers to more such successful experiments,
G